Duerson wrong symbol for a safer NFL

Former Bear's words, actions before taking his life strike questionable note

February 25, 2012|David Haugh's In the Wake of the News

Dave Duerson with former Bears players. (Handout photo)

Eerily, the voice of late Bears star Dave Duerson glorified the violent, macho football culture a lawsuit filed by Duerson's family calls into question.

"The game is protected (and) I'm pissed off today,'' Duerson said Oct. 21, 2010, on his Voice America Sports Internet radio show. "The Big Hit has been told to turn in his pads and jockstrap. I understand they don't want us using helmets as a weapon but this thing about devastating hits, come on. If I was playing today I certainly would have taken my shots. With the way they changed this game, now we can't give (receivers) a big blow. That's what this game was built on.''

Taped four months before his suicide, Duerson romanticized nights before Notre Dame games when he put himself in the proper mindset by reading Jack Tatum's book "They Call Me Assassin.''

"There is nothing like hearing the air rush out of another man,'' Duerson told listeners.

Does this sound like a player who would have heeded anybody's warnings about head trauma or who would have welcomed changing his style? Would a proud man like Duerson approve of being cast in the role of naive victim?

I asked Tregg Duerson, Dave's son, how he reconciled advocating the NFL's "hit them in the mouth'' mentality celebrated in a Facebook post before his father's death with a family lawsuit against the league 16 months later for not making the game safe enough.

"At that time I was not educated and aware of the full issues of concussions,'' Tregg answered via text. "I had not heard of the disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) until after my dad's death.''

Boyd, a former Vikings lineman in the 1980s, testified in 2007 in front of the Senate Commerce Committee about whether the 6-person NFL disability board Duerson served on unfairly denied benefits to retirees.

The board had ruled Boyd's depression and other cognitive issues were unrelated to his playing career. On the stand, Duerson questioned the link between playing football and sustaining serious brain injury.

"The challenge in terms of where the damage comes from is a fair question,'' Duerson said, according to records.

Recalling those words Friday, Boyd felt anger at the irony.

If the NFL refused to acknowledge that brain damage in former players represents an epidemic, as the lawsuit alleges, Boyd believes Duerson helped it spread.

"Duerson told me my long-term effects were from an act of God, not football, and now his family's suing claiming something he fought against?'' said Boyd, 54, a catalyst in linking concussions with CTE. "The Duersons are, in effect, suing their own husband and father for his corrupt practices as a voting member of the NFL disability board.''

Brain damage slows Boyd's speech. He sighed.

"I have dedicated my life for six years to make sure retirees get benefits they deserve, and Dave Duerson was an obstacle to that goal,'' Boyd continued. "I sincerely feel sorry for his family's loss. But they need to realize the suffering he caused for other families too.''

When 657 retired players have filed concussion-related lawsuits against the NFL, as the Tribune reported, assertions in Duerson's suit parroting other plaintiffs' complaints cannot be dismissed. Not every motive is financial, not every claim lacks foundation. The sport's underlying message was clear even before the Duersons retained the law firm Corboy & Demetrio: Without continued bold action by the NFL, a game worth saving risks extinction.

Objectively, even cynics would agree the league never has shown more sensitivity regarding brain injury. That's progress.

To increase concussion awareness and change makes good sense. To make Duerson a martyr for that crusade doesn't. It's the right cause with the wrong symbol.

Understandably, it bothers former players such as Boyd and Bernie Parrish that the family of a man who once passionately fought against mercy for retirees now seeks it on his behalf. Parrish recalled Duerson screaming obscenities at him while fighting retiree benefits at another '07 Congressional hearing.

"I'm not a Duerson fan and think his suicide should have triggered an audit of the NFL retiree pension fund he oversaw,'' said Parrish, 75, a former player and NFLPA official. "But I believe his family's justified. It's complicated.''

It's somewhat contradictory too. But, mostly, it's sad. The lawsuit essentially blames the NFL for killing Duerson slowly, one tackle at a time, before he knowingly shot himself in the heart. As Duerson foreshadowed in his suicide note, they found CTE in his brain. Yet I still struggle deciding whether Duerson's final act was selfless or selfish. I still wonder whether Duerson's brain disease was more of a cause or a crutch during his downward spiral.

I always will believe Duerson had more to offer this issue alive than dead, and some choice last words still resonate louder than any lawsuit.